20 March 2013

I will be live-tweeting track titles and interesting musical moments @vonwichert.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Raga Jogeshwari (rec. 1979)
Ravi Shankar - sitar, Alla Rakha - tabla, Mrs. Jiban & Mrs. Widya - tanpuras
The Spirit of India: Ravi Shankar Plays Ragas
Deutsche Grammophon, 447 532-2
50:07
(Composed by Ravi Shankar, a combination of two ragas.... And as this goes on my permanent record, I want to be careful in what I say: This is a combination of ragas Durga [of Khammaj thaat] and Malkauns and/or Jog and Rageshri. Discussion to follow. You are welcome to post the first comment regarding this raga.)

"It has been said that Malkauns is a raga for becoming a complete human being. Though simple in structure, it expresses the extraordinary state of being, particularly being human, an incarnation where the heavenly and earthly qualities converge" (sitarist Amit Chatterjee).

Malkauns is kinda spooky. We should play it in dry ice smoke. The Raga Guide says "superstitious musicians describe it as a raga with supernatural powers, and some believe that it can attract evil spirits". Who said that personal growth was a walk in the park?)

Kohlberg's stages of moral development, anyone? Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg suggested individuals pass through six (maybe seven) stages of moral development, from "blind egoism" through to "morality of cosmic orientation". Can music be your guide through these levels of being?)

2. Raga Bhairavi/Raga Sagar

19:24

(Scale: C Db Eb F G Ab Bb aka the Phrygian mode. Raga traditionally performed in light classical style with lots of flexibility as concluding piece in concerts. This concludes the first set.)

(Now for something very serious, an old version of Jaijaivanti. Scale: major scale, with Bb in descending passages. Emphasized notes: D and G. Play time: Late night. The rudra vina is striking in its low register, resonating with the gonads to an extraordinary degree. You'll want to listen to this over loudspeakers, not earphones. This performance is the North Indian equivalent of a late Beethoven string quartet.)

54:45
(A light classical raga. Scale: "It is a difficult raga to describe in technical terms, because it defies reduction to a scale or a handful of 'rules': Piloo resembles more a collection of common phrases or motifs....")

27 February 2013

Raga Season continues. I will be live-tweeting track titles and interesting musical moments @vonwichert.

Set #1 - 8:30am - 10:00am

1. Raga Marwa (rec. 1997)
Vilayat Khan - sitar, Anindo Chatterjee - tabla
Navras Records, NRCD 0101
65:07
(Scale: C Db E F# A B. Emphasized notes: Db and A. Weak note: C. Entirely missing note: G. Many commentators talk about the disorientation inherent in this tonal regime. Wikipedia says: "For western listeners the tone material may feel strange. As the sixth is emphasised while the tonica is omitted it may feel like playing in A Major, while the base tone is C (not C sharp). If the musician turns back to Sa [C] at the end of a phrase it always comes like a surprise note." Playtime: Sunset, "the transition from light to dark, when the mind and body are in a state of unrest." It's always twilight somewhere in the world.)

Set #2 - 10:00am - 11:00am

2. Vallabha Nayaka et al.

55:42

(In four "movements", alternating between 7- and 8-beat time cycles. Each of the percussion instruments plays several solos before joining together for the finale.)

24 October 2012

I hope you'll be able to tune into today's Pledge-O-Rama edition of my Komodo Dragon Show. All week long UMFM is raising money to keep up with the rising costs of running a radio station.

From 8-11am Central Time on 101.5 FM in Winnipeg and wwww.umfm.com in stream, you'll hear Lubomyr Melnyk's continuous music, a raga by Ravi Shankar, and I'll compare the exotica (recorded in the SAME YEAR!) of Sun Ra with that of Martin Denny. Why does one sound well-formed and the other kitschy?

The number to call to make your pledges is 204-474-6610. Operators are standing by from 6am-3am! The first 10 listeners to pledge to the Komodo Dragon Show will receive a sturdy Komodo Dragon Show coffee mug, which some have been known to put soup in, along with other neato incentives.

1. Lubomyr Melnyk: It Was Revealed unto Us That Man Is the Centre of the Universe... But Few Can Now Remember (1996)
Lubomyr Melnyk - piano, Marie Berard - violin, Douglas Perry - viola, Margaret Gay - cello
Bandura Records, n.n.
44'
(No recording can do justice to Lubomyr's continuous piano technique. You've got to hear him play live to appreciate the resonances which he sets up in the piano.)

2. Raga Malkauns (rec. 1965)
Ravi Shankar - sitar
Ravi Shankar: Sound of the Sitar
EMI, CDM 5673092
20:48
(Regular listeners will be aware that I have gone on and on about Raga Malkauns. It is the mystical raga of moral development for becoming a human.)

Starting today and running through until the winter break in December, we'll be showcasing the vast catalog of legendary jazz composer, and otherworldly being, Sun Ra! Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial, because of his eclectic music and unorthodox lifestyle.

Claiming that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra developed a complex persona using "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of afrofuturism. He preached awareness and peace above all. He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the Egyptian God of the Sun), and used several other names throughout his career, including Le Sony'r Ra and Sonny Lee.

Tune in every Wednesday at 8:00am for 3 hours of music that's out of this world!

63'
(Beni de Cadíz [1929-1990]: "Beni carried the great cante inside him, the cante that comes from far away, and he sang it without affectation, just as it came to him, sometimes with flashes of sheer genius, and always with incontestable musicality and purity of style...")

(Tío Gregorio El Borrico [1910-1983]: "... A grandiose voice, a voice of solid bronze worn by time, somewhat like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, a voice shaken by sudden plunging leaps, singing a wild, millenary, prehistoric chant, a voice of the caves.")

(Sabicas [1912-1990]: "And it is true that the first thing that strikes one on hearing him is his prodigious technique, which is truly unprecedented, and of which the analysts said that before Sabicas there were things that seemed impossible to do on the guitar, after him there is no longer anything!")

61'
(Antonio Mairena [1909-1983]: Considered to be an admirable academic artist. "...It was he who 'reversed the current' in the 30s by rising up against decadent flamenco and working indefatigably to restore pure cante jondo to its former glory, uncompromisingly re-establishing the old forms... to the point of unearthing whole families of songs that were dying out...")

62'
(Pepe Marchena [1903-1976]: "A fluent, pliant voice (always in tune, with a pleasant tone quality), nonchalant, easy-going, never forced; a precious vocalizing style indulging too freely in circuitous diversions, drawing out the ornaments like the tendrils around the vine-stock." and "Marchena's approach to flamenco is solely to sing about the joy of living, a ray of sunshine, a rose, a pretty woman."

60'
(Niño de Ricardo [1904-1972]: "...A singing, pure, natural guitar, fragrant and multi-coloured as a bouquet of flowers." and "...The converging synthesis of the classical guitar, flamencoism and the staggering development of the guitar of the modern period.")

40'
(La Niña de los Peines [1890-1969]: "We might perhaps be surprised to discover the shrill nasal quality of her voice... but what a delight it is when, after a strong attack, we hear her voice transformed into a narrow, clear trickle of water, winding a lengthy and superb course amongst the wild flowers.")

(Manuel Soto el Sordera [1927-2001]: "... His career has taken a long, slow course that, from an artistic point of view, progressed from cantaor de venta [tavern singer], rustic, powerful, but without genius, towards an expressiveness that became less brutal, increasingly more restrained and profound with maturity.")